Mann vs Omnic
by Toyfoxy16
Summary: Overwatch cannot withstand null-sectors power anymore, so they seek help in the American desert. What they find, however, is a lot different from what they expected, instead of professional fighters they get a bunch of crazed mercs who don t seem to take the whole thing all too seriously. Takes place during the omnic crisis, will include pairings
1. Chapter 1

Year 2056, Omnic Crisis

Switzerland, Overwatch headquarters

The agents of Overwatch were in a meeting. They sat silently around a round white table, everyone staring at the holovid floating in the middle. It showed disturbing images of what was once London; now, there was just destruction and death, death brought by the omnics of null-sector.

"We can`t stop it", stated Commander Morrison flatly. "We have tried everything, but it wasn`t enough."

Gabriel Reyes, sitting a little farther away from the table as the others, barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Come on Jack, don`t be so dramatic. You know exactly what the problem is, and how to fix it."

"We don`t have enough agents, I am aware. But there is no chance to gather any new ones. The people are too afraid to fight." Everyone nodded. They had tried very hard, but these times, no one really wanted to be a hero.

"What do you propose, Gabriel?", asked Captain Amari with slight bitterness in her voice.

"Glad you`re asking." Reyes got up from his chair to grab the control panel for the holovid, and the images disappeared. "I thought, maybe we should forget our… pride for a moment, and start thinking practical."

He pressed a button, and the screen showed the files of nine men. "What you see, are the members of an organization called `Team Fortress`. A bunch of madmen, who are mostly known for fighting in the Gravel Wars, in the 1970s. According to the records, they have dealt with robots before, and were quite successful." He wanted to add something, but was interrupted by a high female voice, coming from Cadet Lena Oxton.

"Uhm, excuse me, but why should some random warriors from almost a hundred years ago, who are dead by now, be of interest for us?"

"Now, Cadet, as you might have noticed, these documents I am showing you are from last year. They are arrest files for the very same mercs I have been talking about, indicating that they are in fact not dead."

Triumphantly, he eyed his collegues, who looked at him skeptically, until Ana spoke up. "I don`t know, this sounds a little far-fetched, doesn`t it? How would they have managed to survive that long?"

Torbjörn coughed slightly, and they turned their attention to him. "If I`m informed correctly, the Gravel Wars took place in an American desert that had a large deposit of Australium, which is said to extend the lifespan of a human being. Ah, what I would give to have just a few grams of it!"

"As valuable as it might be", said Dr. Ziegler, "in my medical opinion a metal that can enhance the lifespan of living organism is simply not possible. Actually, I doubt there were any substances back then that able to have such an effect. Gabriel, you might want to think this through again."

Reyes growled. "Can`t remember asking for your opinion, Doc."

Morrison slammed his fist on the table, making everybody jump in their seats. "Enough! Even if we were to believe that these men exist and are still alive, we should not forget that they are _mercenaries_. We can`t possibly hire them, what would the people think of us, the people that see us as their protectors?"

"What do they think now?", Gabriel snapped back. "We failed, Jack, accept that! We need help, or everything we believe in will be destroyed!"

The Commander remained silent for about a minute, and then asked: "What do you all think? Should we give it a try?"

The first one to stand up was Tracer, to everyones surprise. "A few hours ago", she said with a shaky voice, "I saw my hometown getting completely destroyed by null-sector, and it will continue like this! If I have a chance to stop it, I will take it! Count me in!"

The other agents nodded, agreeing with the young woman. "Alright then, Gabriel. They are imprisoned, you said?"

He squirmed a little. "Well, they were. I called there already, and apparently, they fled one week after being arrested. I propose you search for them at their old base."

Captain Amari nodded. "Oxton, Lindholm, Ziegler and Reinhardt, would you do this please? Just go there – carefully! – and ask them to fight for us."

"And if they don`t want to?", asked Dr. Ziegler, clearly disliking the idea of having to deal with mercenaries. "Offer them whatever they want. Just make them come here."


	2. Chapter 2

The four agents of Overwatch were entering the jet that would transport them to the gravel pits. Tracer held in her hands a little screen on which the files of the nine mercenaries were stocked, and she read them out loud with excitement. "Guys, listen to this! So the first one here is the Scout. He grew up in Boston with his seven brothers - seven, oh my god! Anyways, since he was pretty bad in school, he didn`t really have any future perspectives, but got still hired because he is one of the fastest runners of his time, and can handle a gun quite well.

Next is the Soldier, he wanted to join the army during WW2 but got rejected due to massive anger issues and other mental conditions, so he went to Germany all by himself to go on a Nazi-killing-spree, his only weapon a shovel. So that`s what Reyes meant with madmen...

Oh alright, this is interesting... the Pyro. It only says he is a pyromaniac, nothing more. No origin, no nationality, no gender. Strange...

The Engineer. He is described as a genius, he has eleven hard science PhDs! Apparently, he has worked for Mann Co. even before he became a mercenary, and has developed technologically advanced sentrys and teleporters."

"I like him already!", Torbjörn exclaimed.

"Figured. Next on the list is the Heavy, or Heavy Weapons Guy. The name describes him pretty well, he always carries a minigun around that he calls Sasha. Reminds me of Zarya a bit, he`s Russian too.

This is the Demoman, and his description says `Black Scottish Cyclops`- wow, that`s kinda racist! But fitting, I admit. He`s the demolitian expert of the team, and does a good job although he`s drunk 24 hours a day.

Oh, Dr. Ziegler, here`s one for you! The Medic, born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany. He got the best grades in medical school, and then lost his medical license due to - oh my god!"

"What?", Mercy asked and leaned forward.

"He removed a mans skeleton, but didn`t kill him... poor guy had to continue his life without one bone in his body..."

Mercy sat back in her seat, terrified.

"Alright, moving on. Here we have the Sniper. He`s from Australia, where he worked as a professional assassin. Got hired when he managed to kill one of the most important men in Australia, but it doesn`t say who.

And lastly, the Spy. Here`s not much about him, apparently he is good at keeping his identity a secret. We only know he is french, and is wanted in six countries."

She handed the screen to Mercy, who had extended her hand demandingly. Disgusted, she looked through Medics file again, learning more about his ... "achievements". "So that`s what we have to deal with now.", Tracer sighed. "I think they sound like a lot of fun!", Reinhardt stated happily.

They arrived at Teufort sometime in the morning. Their pilot immediately took off again, saying he would come get them in the evening. However, it didn`t seem like they would need that much time. The base was completely neglected, parts of it destroyed, like no one had been here in the last... well, hundred years. The agents still decided to explore the base a little. Thirty minutes later, Tracer had found an old van, half hidden behind a piece of cloth that was painted like the wall it was standing in front of. "I don`t know, Lena", Mercy said skeptically. "To me, it looks as old as the base itself. I mean, look at it. I highly doubt someone would choose to live in this-" Just as she spoke, the door opened with a loud creak, revealing a tall, lean man standing in the doorframe. He was completely naked, save for a hat on his hand and a sniper rifle in is hand. He looked just as shocked as the heroes, but recovered quicker. "G`day.", he greeted them with an australian accent. Reinhardt waved at him. "Hello, my friend!" Dr. Ziegler stepped forward. "Hallo. Nice to meet you. Sniper, I suppose? We are agents from Overwatch and want to-" His grip on the gun tightened noticeably, and Lena quickly stepped between them. "We mean you no harm!", she exclaimed, trying desperately not to look down at his crotch. "We are here to ask you for help. The omnics are getting stronger, and we heard you have defeated robots before, that`s why we need you." The Sniper lowered his gun. "Sounds logical. I would still feel better if you were to put away your weapons, mates. A professional doesn`t trust people to fast, ya know?" They did so, and in the meanwhile he put on a pair of trousers and a red shirt. "So, are you going to help us?" The australian raised his arms. "Not so fast, Sheila, I`m not the one to decide that. I`d say we go inside, and leave that to Engi or Medic." Angela wrinkled her nose at the mention of the doctor, but didn`t say anything. Together they made their way to a little cabin a few feets away from the old base. The Sniper opened the door, and they saw a stairway leading down into the darkness. "Why did none of us see this before?", Torbjörn wondered. "I did", Reinhardt replied. "Why didn`t you say anything?" "I thought it was one of those portable toilets..."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ow! Goddammit Doc, that freakin` hurt!"

Medic and Scout were in the infirmary, treating the younger man`s broken wrist. "I barely touched you", the doctor said, noticeably annoyed. "Besides, if you wish to avoid these visits, you better not try to arm – wrestle with the Soldier again."

"I nearly beat him! Seriously, if Demo hadn`t spilled that damn beer in my lap, I would have totally won!" Medic just rolled his eyes, he didn`t have the nerve to deal with this at the moment. He had worked on improving the Medi-Gun all night and was tired and thus a little on the edge.

"Hey Doc, would some Bonk help you get in a better mood? `Cause the coffee here doesn`t do shit, you know."

He sighed. "Do you remember the last time I agreed? I couldn`t sleep for three days straight, started seeing my dead father and passed out until the next day. I will stick with coffee, danke."

The runner wanted to reply, but was cut off by the Engineer sticking his head through the door. "Hey, y`all should have a look at this." "But I`m not done yet!", Medic exclaimed. But the Texan was already gone again, Scout hurrying after him. Shaking his head, he followed his two team mates to the rec room.

They were greeted with the sight of two women and two men, all in blue military armor, which they were able to recognize right away: Overwatch. That couldn`t mean any good. One of the girls stepped forward, a serious looking blonde who Medic immediately recognized as Angela Ziegler, one of the leading doctors in nano-biology. "Greetings. As we have already told your colleague here, we are seeking your support regarding the terrors of null-sector." The members of Team Fortress looked at each other questioning. They often got hired where other armies had failed, but Overwatch?

Dr. Ziegler continued. "We know this might come as a surprise to you, but trust me, we wouldn`t be here if the situation wasn`t absolutely serious. You are our last hope." She went silent and and looked at them expectantly. The first one to move was Scout. "Yeah good thing you came to me. I`ve fought so many robots, that null-thingy ain`t nothing against that! You know how I did it, sweetheart? I just ran into their lines, shot twice and killed their army! And the first shot was a warning! You know what I mean?" The Sniper facepalmed, Tracer tried to suppress a laugh and Mercy just looked downright confused. She had expected a lot of things to happen considering the mercs résumé, but getting hit on had not been on the list. With a winning smile the boy leaned against the wall, using one hand to support himself – the broken one that was, unfortunately. With a harsh cry, he fell to the floor, clutching his aching wrist. "I told you I wasn`t done yet!" Medic stood over him, a strict expression on his face, watching his pain with slight satisfaction. "Aren`t you going to do anything?" He turned his attention to Mercy, who was obviously angry at him, though he had no idea why. "I will treat him later, when he has learned his lesson, and when I`m in the mood." He smiled, hoping to improve her temper, so they could maybe move on to a more appealing topic like her work, which he was very much interested in. Her inventions could certainly help him finally make improvements on the Medi-Gun. The woman however didn`t seem to share that opinion, and backed off with a derogative glance.

"If we can forget this awkwardness for a moment", the Spy interrupted, "I would like to ask: what makes you think we will help you?" Torbjörn took over. "We will of course reward you! Just tell us what you wish for!" Spy smiled slyly. "Mon ami, that is a nice offer, but we are not cheap – in fact, we are nine of the most expensive killers on this planet, and as far as I am informed, Overwatch has spent all money and resources they had on the omnic crisis. There is nothing you have left to offer us, and I hope you did not actually think we would help you out of pure kindheartedness."

The heroes stared at each other with open mouths. "Well...no, of course not, but..."

"So then, if you would be kind enough to leave our base, we would appreciate it." "Spook, c`mon, I`m sure we can make a deal somehow", the Sniper tried to reason with him. "I agree with the Spy", Engi said. "Offer us something that is worth it and that you actually own, or go."


	4. Chapter 4

The Overwatch agents sat outside the base in the burning heat of the american desert and thought about a way to convince Team Fortress to join them. Not an easy task as the mercenaries had been right, Overwatch had nothing left, nothing to pay them. But giving up wasn`t an option either. Torbjörn sighed. "It is strange, isn`t it. We are the biggest peacemaking organization in the world, with the most advanced technology, and are now sitting in the dirt hoping for a bunch of madmen to assist us. And all just because of those omnics!" Tracer perked up at that. "Wait. That`s it. Torbjörn, you are a genius!" "Ha, yes I am, rookie! Just... what exactly did I say?"

"We have the inventions of some of the most brilliant scientists from around the globe, we have weaponry any military force can only dream about. I bet those greedy guys in there would give a lot for some of the blueprints, wouldn`t they?"

"You propose we should offer them our technological progress.", Mercy stated flatly.

"Exactly!" Her cheery tone faded when she saw the doctors expression.

"You propose, we should sell what our friends and colleagues have worked very hard for, what they have _died_ for, to some ... some... MERCENARIES! To a pack of dishonorable, insincere, filthy rats that are willing to let thousands of helpless civilians die, because they don`t deem it profitable enough to help them!"

"A little rude, don`t you think?" She swirled around and was now facing Medic, who, being quite a lot taller than her, looked down at her with a smirk on his lips.

"What do you want?", Mercy snapped. He raised an eyebrow.

"Actually, I came here to inform you, we have thought your request through again and have agreed on accepting the reward afterwards. Though now I have to say, your recent offer sounds much more appealing." Angela grimaced.

"See? That`s what I was talking about!", she shouted to her colleagues, before turning her attention back to the man before her and staring him dead in the eyes. "And YOU can forget about it. We`ll pay you all the money you want, we can find a way to gather it, but our personal achievements are ours alone. And if that doesn`t agree with you, you can get lost, we are not that desperate, got it?"

Her opponents smirk transformed into a wolfish grin. "Didn`t I hear you say that we are your last hope, just an hour ago? That you can`t handle the situation on your own? If I didn`t know any better, I`d say it`s your arrogance and ego speaking here, instead of logic and reason. I can tolerate that, but if you want to save `thousands of helpless civilians`, as you so poetically stated, it might not be the best way." He slowly began descending back into the dark bunker. "Think about it, Frau Doktor." She stared after him with her mouth hanging open, unable to speak as she was was about to burn up with anger.

Behind her, Reinhardt bent down to Torbjörn, and whispered: "That was a little awkward wasn`t it?"

"But I`m right, am I not? Come on, don`t tell me you agree with him!"

Tracer shifted uncomfortably before speaking up. "Love, I`m not saying you are wrong, but... he isn`t either, you know? We need their help, so I guess we`ll have to agree to all requirements they put on us. I`m not okay with it, just like you, but we can`t change it, and we definitely can`t down now. So please, please try to forget your aversion against mercenaries for a little while, alright?"

Mercys shoulders slumped down. She was still angry, but she nodded anyways. If someone had reason to hate mercenaries, it was her, but this was not the time for stubbornness.

Authors note

Sorry for the short chapters, but I don`t have enough time to make them much longer. Next chapter there will be some more interactions between TF and OW, I hope it`s going to be as amusing to read as it is in my head :)


	5. Chapter 5

After all the arrangements with Team Fortress were made, the heroes immediately called the pilot, who told them he had technical problems with the jet, and that they would be stuck for at least two days. Reinhardt didn`t really seem to mind as he had already settled down in the kitchen for holding a drinking contest with the Demoman, and Torbjörn was looking forward to having a few professional discussions with Engineer. Tracer had originally wanted to support Mercy a little, who was not too happy about the extended stay in Teufort, but the Brit had to deal with other things at the moment. Scout had apparently noticed that the blonde doctor was immune to his flirtations after a quite awkward little incident (he had flexed in front of her to show off and she had asked him in all seriousness if he was experiencing a stroke) and now Lena was his next target. She had unfortunately made the mistake to be too nice to him which he had taken as encouragement and from then on would not leave her alone.

"Hey toots, did I ever tell ya that I once killed a bear with my bare hands?"

She rolled her eyes. In the last 24 hours she had heard how he punched a bunch of robots to death, killed a giant mutated bread and that Tom Jones was his dad. Of course a bear had to be in it too.

"I remember it like yesterday, it was winter 1990, we were in the woods somewhere in Russia because we were hunting down some terrorists, and then - BAM! A bear, right in front of us, and it was angry, let me tell ya! Anyways, everyone was like totally scared, but I just embraced it and said `Bear, you`re not gonna hurt my team!` and then I -"

"That was me", Heavy interrupted.

"What?"

"I killed bear. With bare hands. Was good fight."

"But I totally helped!"

"You did. You cried like little girl, it irritated bear."

"See? Without me it would have killed us all! Hey, where are you going? I have more stories I swear!" But Tracer was already out the door. He jogged after her. "Come on,wait for me!" Annoyed, she stopped and turned around. "I need to go to the toilet. _Alone_."

"Speaking of toilets! Ya know, back in 2002, we were in New York..." She silently thought about how hard she would have to bang her head against the wall to go unconscious.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ziegler was sitting in Medics lab, waiting for him. She had agreed to meet him here to talk about her Caduceus staff, since he would receive the blueprints later than expected, and he wanted to improve his own equipment as soon as possible. Originally, Mercy had wanted to stay far away from the mad scientist, but she had promised to stay professional, and that apparently included spending time with him alone in an old laboratory that could have been in the next Frankenstein movie. There were wires and weird instruments, tubes and monitors, and the image was rounded with patches of blood everywhere. Gross, in her opinion. Her thoughts drifted away to her own medical wing in the Overwatch headquarters, where everything was white and clean and sterile, and where the staff were only trained professionals. Suddenly, something landed on her shoulder. She fell off her chair and screamed, terrified, until she realised it was only a small, white dove, which was now sitting on the operation table and looked down at her curiously with black beady eyes. Still shuddering a little, she got up. "Hey there, little one", she greeted it, and slowly extended her hand to pet its head. "I wouldn`t do that", she heard Medics voice from behind her. "He doesn`t like strangers." She stood up straight and turned around. "You took your time."

"Incredibly sorry. But I had to talk to Engineer, it was important. Now, shall we begin?"

"I guess we have to."

The doctors sat down while he spoke. "I am mostly interested in the damage boost and the multi resurrection, as I`m not sure how it`s supposed to work. I have tried a few things, but the results were not-" She interrupted him almost immediately. "Damage boost and the rez? Wouldn`t the healing stream be of more use for you? Not that I`m eager to share it with you, but it just seems more logical, you know?"

"Ah, yes, I understand your confusion, Frau Doktor. I should have told you about my Medi-Gun beforehand. You see, just a couple of months after this team was formed, I developed a device quite similar to your staff, with a healing stream that fully restores health in matter of seconds and can even, how do I put this, overheal you to approximately 150% of your original health."

"Wait, seriously? In the 1970s? And you are certain it`s functional?"

"Of course! How else could I have kept these Dummkopfs alive for 100 years?"

Mercy leaned back in her chair, for once speechless. Medic however enjoyed this moment thoroughly; after all, this was the actual reason he had invited her here, to rub it in her face that he was better than her, and to get rid of that sniffy attitude of hers. He rested his head in his hands and smiled innocently.

"What`s the matter, my dear? Stunned that a `psychopath`, how you like to put it, has outmatched you?"

She stared at him with a death glare. "Not at all. Firstly, I`m happy about every medical progress, no matter who is responsible for it, and second, you haven`t outmatched me. So far, you merely happen to possess some of the same abilities as me, which is surprising, but still, I can do more than you." She eyed him triumphantly.

"Did I tell you about Übercharge?"

"What`s that?"

"Basically, it renders a target invincible for multiple seconds." He chuckled. "And all of that decades before you were even born."

She remained silent as her counterpart got up and leaned over the table, until their faces were only inches away from each other. The mans expression was serious now.

"Listen up, silly girl. I have kept my whole team alive against all odds, while you fail to save even one soldier on those useless missions against he omnics. How many did you let down, hm? Hundreds, or more?" His voice dripped lower, and sent shivers down her spine. "You better not forget that the next time you decide to be so overbearing."

Before he could say another word, Mercy was on her feet, pushed the door open violently and ran, trying to get as much space between them as it was possible in the small bunker.

"What was that noise?", Torbjörn asked. He and Engineer were in the supply room, having an animated conversation about their work; which, in this case, meant sharing stories about their `loved ones`. "No idea", Engi answered. "Anyways, we were in battle and had only 10 seconds left. The enemy had taken the control point, but then I built up my sentry, and she, always so reliable, wiped out the other team, and we won!" He sighed happily at that memory. "Yes, I have experienced the same, only with omnics in the streets of London! It was our last victory, and it was because of MY turret! I was so proud!" Laughing, they both hugged their guns like a father his child, holding them tight in the embrace.

"We have problems, don`t we?"

"Yeah..."


	6. Chapter 6

The travel back to Overwatch headquarters turned out to be more complicated than anticipated, and that meant something. Firstly there was the seating problem: Scout wanted to be seated next to Tracer, much to Tracers discomfort, the two doctors both insisted on sitting as far away from each other as they could get, Engineer and Torbjörn immediately claimed the best seats on the jet for their turrets and could not be persuaded to move them, and Reinhardt wanted to be seated next to everyone, despite all protests that that was physically not possible, whereupon Soldier stated that they were in America, a free country, and that even the german Nazi-scum could sit where and how he wished to, and that he would like to see someone try and stop him. What followed was a twenty minute discussion whether the Soldier was really essential for this mission, which resulted in Medic, already as annoyed as he could get, wordlessly sedating the American and stowing him in one of the transport boxes. Pyro sat down next to Reinhardt and offered him his Balloonicorn for cuddling, and finally they could leave, their departure already delayed by at least one hour. Surprisingly, half of the flight went down calm and relatively silent, until Scout made a pretty mean joke about the British, whereat Tracer refused to be near him any more, and managed to convince Mercy to change seats with her. And as if there wasn`t already enough chaos, Mercys new seat had to be right next to Medic - or rather on him, space in the jet was tight and she ended up half sitting on his lap. A quick glance in his face told her he wasn`t exactly happy about the situation either. This was going to be a long travel.

9 agonizing hours later, the plane landed on the headquarters` private airport, and the nine mercs and four heroes stumbled out, genuinely pissed off because no one had managed to shut up for one second during the whole flight - except for Demoman, who had been drunk the second he got on the jet and had passed out five minutes after departure. As a result, the doctors hated each other even more, the runners had gotten into a fight too for reasons unknown and Soldier had started hating everyone and everything after noticing he was stuck in a box.

Outside, they were awaited by Commander Morrison, Gabriel Reyes and Captain Amari. They all looked serious and military, and the mercs silently agreed that it would be best to leave Demo and Soldier in the jet for now. They lined up before the leaders of Overwatch, standing straight and for once not making any inappropriate comments, as Morrison approached them.

"Welcome to Overwatch. I won`t waste any time with small talk, I think you all know why you are here. The omnics are getting stronger each day, and we will have to push our limits to beat them. Therefore, I demand of you obedience, respect and discipline. Also-" He looked around. "Weren´t there supposed to be nine of you?" He received a mumbled "No...?" from the mercenaries and was about to continue, as a rumble could be heard from inside the ship. Everyone turned around to see a box moving forward shove by shove, onto the runway. " _Maggots! I will teach you a lesson as soon as I get out of this thing, a lesson you won`t forget!",_ Soldier shouted angrily. "Wait for me!" Behind him, a groggy Demo stumbled onto the ramp, tripped over the box and landed face first on the asphalt. " _What was that? An enemy? Hand me a weapon, quickly!_ "

Spy cleared his throat. "May I introduce: the Soldier and the Demoman." The Overwatch agents looked at each other, slowly suspecting what they had gotten themselves into.

The base was big and modern and shiny; those were the first things the mercs noticed as they were shown around. They had quite literally been living under a rock for the last few decades, and as though they had seen some pretty impressive military bases during that time, the headquarters were definitely a looker. As said, it was big, multiple floors above ground and even a few underground, where the training facilities and research labs were located. All the walls were white or blue, and huge windows illuminated every room. The mercs each had their own quarters, fully equipped with an elegant bathroom and modern but practical furniture, and they were given access to the training rooms and the standard weapons. Also, Engineer was allowed to use Torbjörns workshop, and even Mercy had given in and allowed Medic to work in the medical wing (but only under her supervision). She wasn´t fond of it, but after Ana had noticed the tension between the two, she had forced them to come to a professional agreement, as they couldn´t use any childish fights now. They had a war to win, after all.

Authors note

Alright, I guess those were enough awkward encounters for now, hopefully we can get into some supercool fighting scenes in the next chapter. I know it`s progressing a little slowly, but I`m trying. I`ll have more time the next two weeks, so I can probably write longer chapters from now on.

Also, I have received quite a few very positive reviews so far, and I`m so happy about that! Really keeps me motivated, thank you! :)

And yes, I forgot Scout killed a bear in the comics, I`m sorry about that, and I`m going to apologize in advance if something doesn`t agree with the original lore, I haven`t read all the Overwatch comics. I`ll also have to make up or change a few things to create emotional bonds between the characters (mainly talking about Medic and Mercy here). Anyways, hope you`ll enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

Watch and learn. That was their task.

The mercenaries were sitting in a small room in Overwatchs base in Great Britain, in London to be precise, and were observing the four agents on their mission in Kings Row over the cameras. Commander Morrison had decided it would be better to not let them fight for now as they were not familiar with Overwatchs methods. So, they had to watch and learn for now. They had to admit, the heroes were not as bad as they had anticipated; they were actually pretty good, always moving, not letting their defenses down and killing a good number of null-sector terrorists.

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise emerged from one of the devices. "Whoa, what`s that?", Scout asked. Engineer leaned over it and tapped on the small screen. "The radar has spotted a plane approaching Kings Row."

"Cool." With that, the boys attention was back on the cams.

"Scout, I don`t think it`s one of ours."

"Oh." He turned as pale as the wall. "OH. Oh my god. Should we warn them?" He gestured to the screens, where Tracer was currently blinking around a huge omnic warrior, constantly shooting her two pistols.

"I don`t think we can. They didn`t take the mobile radio, remember?"

"What should we do?", Sniper asked.

"Help them of course! What else?", Scout exclaimed.

No one really needed any more encouragement, and they stormed out, to the exit. Outside the door waited a scrawny little man with glasses and a clipboard, eyeing them suspiciously. Their supervisor. Responsible for keeping them inside the base. "Where exactly are you going?"

Engineer answered him with a calm voice. "The agents are in danger, we need to help them. We`ve watched long enough, we can do it."

The supervisor shook his head. "I can assure you, our agents are more than competent, they are not in need of any help. Go back."

"But the other ship-"

"Enough! You will not leave the base, the Commander won`t allow it so I won`t either!" The supervisor crossed his arms, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. He didn`t make it a secret that he couldn`t stand Team Fortress.

The mercs exchanged glances, grinning mischieviously.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Tracer laughed as the omnic went down. She turned her head to see what the others were up to. Currently, Reinhardt was protecting Torbjörns turret with his shield, while Torbjörn had thrown himself right in a bunch of robots, trying to kill them with his shotgun, and Mercy did her best keep him alive. Lena smiled. They were doing great, and that last kill would surely show Scout who was the fighter here. Right as she wanted to take on the next enemy, she heard an engine roaring, and lifted her head just in time to see a ship landing behind one of the buildings surrounding them. It seems that her companions haven`t noticed it. She had to think quickly now. From where that ship landed to their current position it was only a few meters, and only one road lead here, and nearest to that road was… "Doctor Ziegler, watch out!" Too late, an energy blast hit Mercy in the back and sent her flying into a wall, where she passed out immediately. That alarmed the other two, not that it was any use now. A new wave of omnics emerged from the ship, more than the team could take on, especially without their healer.

"Run!"

And that`s exactly what they did. Reinhardt scooped Mercy, still unconscious, up in his arms and threw her over his shoulder, and with the other hand he dragged Torbjörn away from the enemies, much to his anger.

"No! My turret! I can`t leave her alone! Let me go, you giant brute!"

They made their way around a corner and into an empty passage – or so they thought. Instead they were awaited by even more robots, at least fifty.

"Oh, bugger! Get to cover, guys!"

Suddenly, Tracer felt an uncomfortable heat in her back, and went down. The energy blast had hit her seemingly out of nowhere, and with shock she noticed that her chrono accelerator was out of power, meaning she couldn`t blink or recall, and meaning she couldn`t get away from the omnic leaning over her, shotgun in his hand. He was about aim when Tracer saw something behind him, red and glowing.

"I AM BULLETPROOF!"

The omnic before her got shredded into pieces, and Lena quickly ducked under the bullet rain. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times to fully regain her sight, and saw Heavy, covered in a shiny red texture, with Medic right behind him, who obviously had a little too much fun. Before the two, Scout was running and skillfully dodging the bullets, eliminating every robot who managed to do the same. The rest of the team stayed back a little, shooting from a distance.

Null-sector didn`t stand a chance; even they seemed to have noticed, as they tried to escape and get back to the ship, before getting ripped apart by the invincible man and ending up like the rest of their forces, as piles of mangled metal parts.

As another row of enemies got torn up by the minigun (Sasha was its name, Lena remembered), Medic shouted a warning, and they got to cover just in time, before the red texture vanished, leaving Heavy vulnerable again. Now that the bullets weren`t flying any more, the other mercs darted forward as well, sending the remaining extremists to hell.

Tracer had to admit, she was surprised. She had only known these men as a bunch of childish, chaotic maniacs, and although they were still laughing and taunting while they were bashing heads in, it shone through what they really were: warriors. Experienced, ruthless warriors.

A bandaged hand appeared in her field of view. "Need some help, babe?"

She looked up and saw Scout smirking down at her, extending his hand to help her get up. She took it gratefully.

"You could say so. But don`t call me babe!"

"Sorry toots." He looked around. "Quite a mess, huh?"

"Yeah… good you arrived in time… you know, you`re handling the situation really well, you are disciplined, professional and – is Soldier naked?!"

Scout sighed. "Yup, and lubricated with honey. He does that every time." He was about to add something, but was interrupted.

"There`s more coming! We need to withdraw!"

It was Medic, who was currently making his way back to the jet, one arm around Mercys waist to support her as she was still dizzy.

Scout turned to Lena, worried. "Can you walk?"

That moment, her chrono accelerator sprung back to life, the chest piece and her weapons glowing electric laughed excitedly, let the device charge up and blinked away.

"I take that as a yes!"

Thanks to Team Fortress, the Overwatch agents made it home without any losses or major injuries; Engineer had even taken the time to pick up Torbjörns beloved turret, for which he had involuntarily received a kiss on the cheek by the Swede. Scout and Tracer were on good terms again and not even Medic and Mercy bothered for any mean words, so naturally, everyone was in a celebratory mood, which could only be killed by a very angry supervisor, who shouted at them with a muffled voice and a bleeding nose, threatening to sue them for this.

"Seems like you handcuffs weren`t as secure as you thought, Spook", Sniper stated amused.

"Shut up, Bushman."

Authors note

As for the pairings, there`s gonna be

Medic x Mercy

Scout x Tracer

and maayyybee Sniper x Spy , but I`m not entirely sure yet, since they are not really the center of the story.

Also, about the paragraphs, I didn`t notice it was hard to read, because while I`m writing on my computer, it looks fine, and when it`s published it looks different. i`m sorry about that and I`ll try to fix it, but as I mentioned, while writing I can`t really see that.


	8. Chapter 8

Scout stretched his arms as he returned to his room. He was a little sore, but it was a satisfying kind of sore, the kind that reminded you of a day full of action, so he didn`t mind much. He was about to enter, as someone tapped his shoulder and chirped:

"Going to bed that early, love?"

He turned around to face Tracer, for once not in her uniform but in black leggings and a blue shirt, over it the glowing blue chrono accelerator. He grinned at her.

"Yeah, I guess. I`m feelin a little tired after this _super awesome_ fight today, so…"

Tracer pouted and looked at him with puppy eyes. "What a shame. I thought we could have a little fun together."

Scout combed absently through his hair, put on his best casanova-style facial expression and then leaned in to her.

"What were you thinking of?", he whispered.

"Well, today showed clearly that we are both excellent fighters, but I still doubt you could be any faster than me, so – I challenge you to race me! And stop taking all of my flirtations so seriously."

"Sorry, sweetheart. And, y`know what, I think I`m still fit enough to settle this now!"

The race track was, along with the other training facilities, underground. It was rather large and had a useful little automated device which noticed who crossed the finish line first. Perfect for two runners with big egos and an unnecessary argument.

"We`ll do two rounds, maybe three, if necessary. We start here, run all the way around there, and finish right here. Any questions?"

Scout looked around. Tracer would probably have an advantage because of the corners – she was smaller and more agile than him – but he should still win easily.

"One thing, toots: you are not allowed to use your fancy little accelerator here!"

"What? No fair!", she protested. She would never tell him, but she had secretly relied on him forgetting about her power-ups.

"Alright, but then YOU aren`t allowed to drink Bonk!"

"Ugh, fine…"

They both positioned themselves, and Tracer counted down.

"Ready, steady, aaand – GO!"

Meanwhile, Medic and Mercy too spent some time together, but more or less involuntarily. It turned out that Mercy had some inner bleedings; they weren`t severe, but neither the Medigun or the Caduceus Staff could heal wounds of that kind properly, so Medic had to treat her in the medical wing. They were nearly done, just some scratches left to take care of, and much to Mercys surprise, her counterpart had not started a fight or made an inappropriate comment during that time – not even a mean glance by him. She had heard him whistling at some point, but now he was awfully quiet again.

As he focused on the wound on her forehead, she looked up at him. A flick of his jet black hair hung in his face, not quite touching his eyebrows which were knit in concentration. When he didn`t notice her staring, her gaze strayed further down. As much as she disliked him personally, she had to admit, his eyes were striking; an icy blue, that exuded an intimidating kind of intelligence, and she could never decide whether his round glasses hid or reinforced the effect.

"Danke", she said unexpectedly, and those sharp eyes met hers.

"For what?"

"You know for what. After Reinhardt dropped me, they – they had me. They had me and were dragging me away, no one would have blamed you if you hadn`t come after me… but you did."

Medic wasn`t sure what to respond. He had hoped the blonde wouldn`t point it out, but at least she hadn`t asked-

"Why?"

S _cheisse_ , he thought. "Uhmm… a habit?"

"Really?", she teased. " _Your_ habit is to save people?"

"Not random people, but… my teammates, and I guess you could be considered one now."

He shifted uncomfortably, not sure if she would buy it. It was, in fact, kind of a habit to rescue his comrades (he was their Medic, after all), but that didn`t apply to the Overwatch members. The truth was that in battle, when he had seen the omnics gripping her by her hair and yanking her towards their ship, when he had seen blood drip from her head – it had triggered something in him, and before he had been able to form another thought, he had run after them, bonesaw in hand.

But he`d rather die than tell her that. Fortunately, he didn`t have to, because she stopped asking and let her gaze wander around the infirmary, so he got back to work.

After a while, she spoke up again.

"Would you like to get a drink with me sometime?"

He looked at her again, raising an eyebrow.

"Not as a date ", she added hastily. "I just think that I owe you something, you know? And buying a drink for you seems appropriate."

Medic smirked. "I`d love to."

"Great. This evening?"

"Actually, I`ll have to give some painkillers, and those don`t really agree with alcohol, because-"

"I know why", she interrupted him, annoyed. "I`m a doctor too, remember?"

"No need for that harsh tone, Frau Doktor." He made a little pause. "May I ask you something?"

She sighed. "Sure."

"Why do you hate mercenaries so much?"

"What?!"

"You heard me. I`m used to people disliking me, although it usually takes them more than five seconds to do so, and I honestly don`t care. But you didn`t seem to like any of us from the first second on. I wonder why, considering Overwatchs work isn`t that much different from ours."

She wanted to protest at first at the statement that `Overwatchs work wasn`t different`, but then decided otherwise. He had asked a good question, after all.

"It`s a pretty personal issue, and I`m not sure whether I want to share it with _you_."

"Why not? I`m a good listener!"

She laughed sarcastically. "Sure! But if you`re so eager to know, I might tell you when we get a drink."

"Alright. And, now that I think of it, painkillers won`t be necessary here, so today would be fine."

"Really? You would let your patient suffer just to be able to alcoholize her?"

"Woudn`t be the first time."

"Shit! Not again!", Scout exclaimed as he eyed the device at the finish line. No result, fifth time in a row. Five times they had raced and given everything, but every time they crossed the line at the exact same time.

"How can that be?", Tracer asked, exhausted. Scout just shrugged.

"Guess we`re both equally awesome. Let`s have a break."

They both sat down at the edge of the track and shared a bottle of water. While they did so, Tracer noticed Scout glancing over at her multiple times, always looking away when she faced him.

"What`s wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing… I was just wondering, if you have, uh…"

"Yes?"

"If you have a boyfriend? I never asked, you know."

Tracers expression suddenly turned very serious, sad even, and Scout swore he saw tears swelling up in her eyes.

"I´m sorry, I didn`t mean to-"

"No, it`s alright." She sniffed. "I _had_ a girlfriend. Her name was Emily, and she was so… so kind and gentle and I loved her."

"What happened? Did she leave you?"

"No, she would have never left me; she loved me too, always called me her hero. But she died. It was a few months ago, she went on vacation in France, where the Omnic crisis wasn`t as bad as elsewhere, but… I told her not to go, I told her it wasn`t safe, but she wouldn`t listen to me… she just kissed me goodbye, got on that plane, and one week later I received message that they- they-"

Her voice broke as she sobbed, and Scout quickly wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight while she cried into his shoulder.

"Lena, I`m really, really sorry about that."

"T-Thanks."

He continued hugging her, and gently stroked her back as the sobs slowly receded.

"Listen, if there`s something I can do to make you feel better-"

"You can", she interrupted him. "Don`t talk about this again, and take me somewhere fun, like a bar or a disco, and talk about your adventures or try to flirt with me – just make me forget this for a while."

Scout nodded, and thought of fun places to go. He couldn`t think of much. He didn`t know the city, didn`t know where you could do what, but there was something else.

"I got it! Spy always has some super fancy wine with him, some french shit, and if his room has the same architecture as mine, I know exactly where he keeps it!"

Tracer smiled. "Let`s go!"

Authors note

Apparently `alcoholize` is a word, at least according to the internet. I didn`t know that, but I like it.

Also, Tracer is bisexual in this story; I wanted to state that now, as it probably won`t really be mentioned in the story itself.

Anyways, hope you still enjoy the fic! :)


	9. Chapter 9

When Medic arrived at the small bar downtown, Mercy was already waiting for him. She had traded her armor for a dark blue summer dress that, as she has been told, went wonderfully with her blonde hair, while Medic had simply discarded his vest and rolled up his sleeves to make himself look more casual. Last minute he had noticed an ugly blood stain on the side of his white shirt (he couldn`t remember whose it was though) but it had been too late to change, so he just hoped she wouldn`t notice. He didn`t have the nerve to fight with her now.

They greeted each other politely, and entered the location. Medic raised an eyebrow. This place was unexpectedly nice. It was small but cozy, dimly lit without being dark, the decoration was tasteful, and though it wasn`t crowded in there, there were enough people so it didn`t look criminal. And, according to Dr. Ziegler, they served the best scotch here. He had to admit, the blonde had a good taste.

They settled in a seating corner far enough from the other customers and ordered their drinks, two glasses of 15 year old Bowmore Single Malt, and sat in awkward silence until their drinks arrived – or so Medic thought, when Mercy suddenly let out a small yelp and pointed to his shirt.

"Is that … blood?"

"Ah, yes, it appears to be. But don`t worry, it`s not mine."

He smiled at her contentedly, while she furrowed her brows.

"But we only fought against omnics today, didn`t we?"

His smile dropped, and he hastily began examining his side. "Interesting. Looks like it _is_ mine after all. That`s new."

She opened her mouth to say something – probably a derogative comment – but was interrupted when a decidedly annoyed looking young waitress came to the table to serve their drinks. Carefully, Medic lifted the glass to his mouth.

 _`This is expensive`,_ he thought. _`No need to just swallow it down without tasting. Try to enjoy it.`_

To his own surprise though, he didn`t even have to try – it tasted good. Really good. Besides, he`d pretty much expected his tastebuds to have commited suicide after all the years of drinking that mislabeled gasoline Mann Co. had sold them as alcohol, and it felt comforting that this wasn`t the case. He gave Mercy, who`d already emptied half her glass, an approving nod. She smiled.

` _Now or never_.`

"Sooo… you wanted to tell me something."

She winced, shifted uncomfortably on her seat and avoided his gaze, before she gave a hesitant answer. "´Wanted´ isn`t exactly the right word for it, but I guess I promised it, didn`t I. Here we go. It…it started with parents` death."

"Taken by war when you were only seven, right?" He was quite proud of himself to remember that, as it had only once been mentioned in a magazine a few years ago.

She laughed joylessly. "Taken by war; yes, that`s what the always say. Not entirely wrong, but also not right.

It`s true, my parents fought in war and always left me wondering whether I would see them again – sometimes they were gone for months at a time. It was hard for me, but nothing I couldn`t handle. When they died, they were home; it was christmas evening, we were having dinner, music played and I felt as secure and loved as a child my age should. And that`s when _they_ came."

Medic leaned forward. "They?"

Her eyes finally met his again, and he could see grief and hatred glistening in them. "Mercenaries, five of them. They broke down the door without a warning, and stormed in. Two of them grabbed my father and held him in place, while a third one punched and kicked him repeatedly; two others took hold of my mother, forced her down onto the couch and – well, I didn`t see it because the fifth one knocked me out, but she was a beautiful woman, I can imagine what they did to her. I awoke a few hours later in the hospital with a broken nose and two injured ribs, and received message that both my parents were murdered. I know what you might think now; that someone hired them, that they were only doing their jobs. They weren`t. They did work for the enemy, but the war activities were ceased during the holidays, that`s why my parents were home. These mercs were spending their free time in my hometown and when they discovered the house of the famous General Ziegler and his family, they decided to just –"

Her voice broke, but she didn`t cry. She inhaled deeply, and spoke up again. "When we met your team, I was reminded of those bastards. You are exactly like them: ignorant, brutal, no honor, no respect for the lives of others. It _disgusts_ me."

Mercy had been prepared for nearly every look he could give her, from surprise to amusement to pure anger – basically everything but the tired and worn out expression that had settled on his face during her story. He suddenly looked so much older.

"We are not like that." The whispered answer was so quiet that if she`d not been waiting for it, she might have just missed it.

"And why is that?"

He sighed and sat up straight, and although the weird look on his face was still present, he spoke louder now.

"You were right about those mercenaries not ´just doing their jobs´. They did what they did because of the simple fact that they could, and that they wouldn`t be charged for it; their employer would protect them. You wouldn`t believe, what a person is capable of under these circumstances."

"But you do?"

He gritted his teeth. "I… had the pleasure of being at the mercy of men like that. Of _men only following orders_."

His arm changed position slightly to reveal a row of numbers tattooed into his underarm, and Mercy`s eyes widened in shock. Sure, birth date and nationality implied a certain involvement, but she had somehow expected him to have been on the other side. Compassion for him rushed over her.

"Medic…"

He gestured her to be silent. "Let me talk, bitte. What I want to say is that I saw what those people are like, and I can promise you, we are not like that. We may not act like the saints you Overwatch agents claim to be, but we are not as heartless as you portray us. We are simply trying to have fun; to make the best out of our situation."

Mercy leaned forward a bit. "What situation exactly?"

"I had hoped you wouldn`t ask." He remained silent for a little while, thinking through if he should tell her. He apparently went for yes.

"Firstly, I`ll have you know that none of us got into that field of work voluntarily – except Soldier, probably – but we did, because for every one of us came a point in life where we had no other choice. So naturally, the first five years most of us just kept going because someone was waiting for them at home. Then our team disbanded, and – actually, I`ll spare you the whole story, it`s not that important. What you need to know is that the Administrator, after finding out that all Australium was gone, wanted to fire us once and for all, but changed her opinion last second."

"How come?"

"I had gotten my hands on a small dose of the substance and was certain that I could improve it; by a lot. Also, we were her most successful team ever, so she gave it a go. We worked two more years for her before…before I did it. After all the time of researching and experimenting-"

Mercy cringed at his mention of experiments.

"- I had created a new form of Australium, that, if injected directly into the heart, could prolong the subject`s life by multiple years. When I presented it to the Administrator, she ordered that the whole team should be given those injections, and no one objected; most could use some extra time and extra money."

She was confused. "So, what`s your point?"

"Doctor Ziegler, I – I made a mistake during my calculations. I originally thought that one would live a few years longer without aging before the next injection was needed, but as the years went by I realized that that wasn`t necessary; one dose could make a human being completely resistant to the aging process."

"But…isn`t that more of a good thing?"

He shook his head. "No. You see, the substance didn`t have any effect on the Administrator because of her having been under the influence of normal Australium before, and she died eventually, leaving us without an employer, without a leader. We went home once more, but… none could find happiness for long. They had to watch their loved grow old and die, because I couldn`t undo what I had done to them. So, we got back together and resumed our work; after such a long time as a mercenary, that was the only thing we were really good at."

"That is… really sad and I feel incredibly sorry for you, but – and please don`t get me wrong now – but couldn`t you have just, you know, killed yourself if you didn`t want to live on?"

"Dying is not what they wanted; they wanted to grow old with their partners, wanted to have children with them, wanted to just _live_. And I took it from them. They don`t hold a grudge against me, but I can feel that this is not the life they wished for."

Mercy could feel that she was getting a headache. This was a lot to take in. She felt sorry for the nine mercs, and embarrassed for blaming Medic for heartlessness. He definitely did care about his friends and hadn`t wanted this fate for them. But there was still one question left to ask.

"During your story, everytime you talked about coming home or wanting a family, you always said _them_. Not _me_ , not even _us_ ; always _them_. What about you?"

"I never had someone who would have been worth it."

This hit her even harder than his story. "Es tut mir leid. I didn`t want this evening to take such a dark turn."

He shook his head, and from one second to another, like flipping a switch, his usual cheerfulness was back, and he grinned at her.

"I think I know how to solve that problem. I propose we order some more of this fantastic scotch – my treat – and then head over to my quarters to have some fun."

She raised an eyebrow. "G-rated fun, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Spy`s room was empty when Tracer and Scout hacked the keypad on his door and entered.

"Don`t touch anything!", Scout warned her right away. "He notices every little change, even if it`s just the smallest crease in his blanket; also, you don`t wanna know what he keeps in his drawers…" He shuddered at the memory and grimaced.

"Are you serious?" Tracer asked, chuckling nervously.

"Yup. Same goes for Medic by the way, just in case you`re planning on sneaking around there too."

"Hey! Don`t make it seem like this was my idea!"

Scout answered her with a grin, and then made his way over to a grey steel locker, that didn`t belong to the standard equipment; Spy must have brought it along himself. A bad idea, obviously, because the boy cracked the lock with ease.

"You did this before, huh?"

"Several times already! Really, for a guy that always acts this mysterious and stuff, Spook really buys the cheapest locks. One time I even stole his cloaking device for 24 hours without him noticing, that was awesome!"

Lena laughed. "Oh my god. What did you do with it?"

"Spy on my teammates, of course! … Ehm, not something I would suggest. I saw so many things…"

He faked a post-war traumatized expression and stared off into the distance, until she jokingly slapped him on the arm.

"Stop it! Let`s just grab the alcohol and get out of here, alright?"

The locker was big enough for two people to stand comfortably in it, inside various bottles of wine and whiskey alongside Egyptian cigarettes were stocked on a shelf. Scout extended his hand to grab some of those treasures, when they heard two noises outside: an awfully familiar voice, and the beeping of someone inserting the code into the pad on the door. _Oh crap_. The runners looked at each other helplessly, before jumping into the locker and slamming the metal door closed behind them, just as Spy entered his quarters. He was on the phone.

"À 8 heures? Oui c`est possible, et…quoi? …Je suis jamais en retard!"

He walked around as he was talking, and suddenly came dangerously close to their hiding space. Tracer and Scout held their breaths.

"Je sais, je sais, mais écoutez moi…"

 _Cling_.

The door swung open a bit after Lena`s foot had bumped against it in an attempt to find a more comfortable position. She glanced at Scout, panicking, and met his gaze, reassuring her that, indeed, they would die in this locker, now. Outside was terrifying silence for a few seconds.

"Un moment, s´il vous plait." The Frenchman stepped closer, pushed the door closed and locked it in one single motion. "C´est rien, j´ais oublié de fermer mon placard… qu`est-ce que vous avez dit?"

With that, Spy grabbed a coat that had been lying on his bed and left, leaving the two runners dumbfounded and locked in.

"Shit", was Scout`s only comment. Lena leaned against the wall with a sigh, her chrono-accelerator being the only light source. She buried her face in her hands.

"Don`t worry", the boy tried to calm her down. "Spy is probably gonna laugh when he finds us here; we`ll die another day, promised."

"But that could take hours, maybe even the whole night! And we can`t scream for help either, because honestly, this isn`t a position I want to be found in – you know, locked in with a guy, you especially. People are gonna talk."

`She`s right`, Scout thought. `Okay, now you gotta play it cool; change the topic.` He eyed the shelf on his left.

"Well, we still got booze, so that`s kinda nice." He took a bottle in his hand, and nodded contentedly. "I can`t spell the name, so it`s probably expensive." He opened it up and handed it to Tracer.

"Ladies first."

As it turned out, the wine wasn`t just expensive, it also more spirituous than expected – after having drunk only half of the bottle, she began feeling dizzy, she couldn`t think straight and, even worse, Scout`s jokes got funnier with every minute. At the last one she laughed way harder than she should have, until her abs hurt and she had trouble breathing.

"Oh my god", she snickered, wiping a tear from her eye. "I can`t believe you really did that!"

"Yeah, me neither!" He giggled with her, as the alcohol didn`t leave him unaffected as well.

"Jeremy, I have a lot fun spending time with you, and I`m really glad Gabriel found your files. Still not quite sure how he did that though, but yeah."

Scout shuffled his feet uncomfortably, trying to contain his now nervous smile. "He he, yeah, it`s a mystery… but I mean, that guy is, you know, mysterious and all…"

He turned back to her, hoping she`d buy it – she didn`t. The laughter was completely gone and instead replaced by a suspicious look and if she could, she`d probably backed away from him now.

"What are you hiding from me? And now don`t try and tell me that it`s nothing; you might have gotten funnier in the last thirty minutes, but you`re still a bad liar."

Scout had gotten back to avoiding her gaze now, and didn`t seem to be able to find the right words. "Ahm , so, the thing is, that – oh god how do I put this – the thing is that it was us who sent the files to your headquarters."

"What?!" Tracer couldn`t be more surprised. The mercs themselves sent these documents to let Overwatch find them?

"But why?"

"Okay toots, please don`t be mad now, alright? It`s just that we expected you to need our help. I mean, we knew how bad your situation was, it`s not like we`ve been living under a rock-" He paused for a moment. "Ok, technically we have been living under a rock, but with television and internet access. Long story short, we kinda wanted to get into that too, so we mailed you our files anonymously. So, you wanna drink on now?"

His hopeful smile disappeared the second he saw her face; his counterpart did not look pleased, and her eyes were narrowed in a dangerous manner rarely anyone has ever seen on her. When she spoke up, her voice was very low.

"You planned all that, because you wanted to get your hands on our technology, didn`t you? You thought you could just steal all of our hard work while being seen as the knights in shining armor!"

"NO! Jeez, no, that wasn`t our plan, I swear! We just hadn`t had a job in a long time and were getting bored."

"Oh, so we are merely your pastime, your amusement! Do you realize we are going through an actual crisis here?"

For once in his life, Scout had no idea what to say; all he was saying at the moment just seemed to make everything worse and worse. And her words had gotten him thinking: it hadn`t been him who had wanted to get involved here, but mostly Engineer, Medic and Spy – coincidentally the three people who profited the most from their current agreement. It was strange, that was for sure.

Tracer sighed heavily and closed her eyes for a moment.

"I`m not mad at you", she stated forgivingly. "I…I just think you should have told me sooner. But I didn`t change my opinion, I`m still glad I got to know you." With a smile, she took the bottle from his hand.

"Cheers."

When the doctors returned to the base and entered Medic`s room, he still hadn`t told her what he had in mind. Considering the mad doctors definition of fun, Mercy almost expected him to pull a collection of dismantled body parts out of his closet (he probably built variations of Frankensteins monster like kids would construct lego-sets), but to her surprise, he suddenly held an old phonograph in his hands and placed it on the table beside them. Then he rumbled through some boxes he apparently still hadn`t unpacked, until he found an unlabeled vinyl. While Medic started the player (despite its age, it seemed to function pretty well; he probably used it often) she asked:

"Isn`t that a little outdated? I appreciate nostalgia, but you can just download every track you like – even the really really old ones."

He chuckled, and answered her without turning around.

"I know; believe it or not, I own an mp3-player, a quite modern one, actually. But even the best headphones can`t beat the unique sound of an original record player. Listen."

A friend of her father had once owned a phonograph as well, though it had been a new one, and as a child she had never understood why someone would make the effort of cleaning and repairing that huge thing and put on a new vinyl all the time. But now, as she stood in Medic`s dimly lit quarters, slightly befuddled by the alcohol and listening to the scratchy sounds of guitars and drums mixed with the singers husky voice, she was certain she had never heard anything so beautiful. She closed her eyes.

"Told you", a whispered comment reached her ears. Her eyelids fluttered open again, and the blonde doctor met Medics amused gaze only about 3 feet away from her.

"I have to admit, this sounds different – in a good way. I`m surprised though, I would have expected you`re more into opera or classic music. Or recorded cries of pain and panic." He ignored the last part.

"I like many kinds of music, and opera is definitely one of my favourites. But you can`t dance to it properly, while this…"

He left the sentence unfinished, and instead extended his hand to her. She shook her head.

"Definitely not. I don`t dance."

Her counterpart, apparently not taking `no` as an answer, stepped closer, took her hands in his and started moving to the rhythm a little, alternately moving both their arms back and forth to animate her. As she still didn`t respond, he leaned in to her, quietly singing along.

Mercy once again shook her head, though this time she couldn`t contain the smile and the blush creeping on her face. Medic smiled back and slowly spun her around, earning a giggle from the blonde.

`Oh, to hell with my timidity` , she thought and gave in to Medics efforts. He seemed good enough at dancing to make up for her lack of skill, and she doubted that he`d try to grab her backside, as most of her previous dance partners had done.

As they now danced and spun all over the small room, surrounded by the inviting sounds from the record player, she had to admit that he`d been right; the stress and anxiety from the past few weeks seemed to fade with every step and every swirl. As time and songs passed by and as Medic didn`t complain about her continuously stepping on his feet, she got bolder and occasionally let go of him to spin until her dress flew up and created a perfect circle around her hip.

She laughed. For the first time since the war had officially begun, she honestly and wholeheartedly laughed.

As the song threatened to end, she swirled around one more time and would have crashed into the table if Medic hadn`t caught her. She laughed again as she lay in his arms and a much slower song came up. Though exhausted, the pair began moving to it.

"It`s the last song", the man informed her.

She just nodded into his chest. She didn`t want this to end; she felt so _alive_ , and she didn`t mind that she couldn`t dance and that he could, she didn`t mind his nose buried in her hair, she didn`t mind their hips grinding together from time to time, and most surprisingly, she didn`t mind that it was Medic of all people who made her feel this way.

When the last notes had played, they broke their embrace, and the doctor smiled at her. He looked so different like this: slightly sweaty, his tie loosened and his hair a mess, he looked – devilishly handsome. Blushing, Mercy turned away.

"Well, it`s getting late", she said.

"Early, actually", Medic responded. "It`s one o`clock. A.M."

Mercys eyes widened. Had they really been dancing for that long? She had work to do tomorrow!

"I gotta go to bed. Sleep well, Medic."

"Joseph", he interrupted her as she tuned to head out the door. "My name is Joseph Ludwig."

She stayed silent for a moment, then smiled at him tenderly.

"Gute Nacht, Joseph."

"Gute Nacht, Angela."

Author`s note

I`m really really sorry I`ve been away for that long! I was on vacation for a month and couldn`t take my laptop with me. Buuut normally I would have released around 3 - 4 chapters in that time, each around 1000 words, while this has nearly 4000 words, so I kind of made up for it? I don`t know.

Also, I got to think about the plot of this story (originally I just started without an idea on how to continue) and I gotta say that although the tags are humor and romance, the plot might be a little serious and... dark. But I like my idea and I hope you`ll like it too. I`ll try to keep it humorous, I know this chapter wasn`t, but I had to fill some plot holes and yeah. And I know the Tracer and Scout part wasn`t my best work, but I just wanted to publish it, so I rushed myself a little on that one. Pretty proud of the Medic and Mercy scenes though. And yes I know lego is for all ages, it just sounded better this way.

Translation for Spy`s lines:

"At eight o`clock? Yes that`s possible, and...what? I`m never late!"

"I know, I know, but listen to me..."

"One moment please. ... It`s nothing, I forgot to lock my cupboard. What were you saying?"


	10. Chapter 10

The surveillance room was nearly empty, occupied by just one man sitting in an office chair, his dark face only illuminated by the small notepad that seemed to disappear in his huge hands. He was staring at the small screen intensely which broadcasted the camera recording of one of his agents who were currently surrounding the splendid white Overwatch headquarters building – the position of the Team Fortress mercenaries. In the almost palpable darkness he gritted his teeth.

These were supposed to be his mercs, his fighters, and they would have been, had the damn jet not malfunctioned, causing Overwatch to reach them first. He was unpleasantly surprised the organization had even heard of Team Fortress; the madmen were mostly unknown to the world of non-criminals.

At first, he had been so sure of himself. It was a common fact that Fortress was beyond loyal amongst their own (except for the doctor, maybe) but for who they worked was only a matter of money, period. Or so he had thought. But there they were, working for those world-improving, and most importantly broke, morons without even overthinking his offer. Not for very much longer though.

His agents were now in position, patiently awaiting his command.

 _Soon._

...

"Ouch! Not fair, big man!" Scout exclaimed as his back hit the ground for the hundredth time. Daily combat training was dumb. Pairing him with Heavy during daily combat training was even dumber. And pairing him with Heavy during daily combat training while hungover was downright a pain in the ass.

"We have to do one more round."

The runner nodded and got into position while the Russian set the timer. Originally, he had been excited to work in the Overwatch training facility, with all its shiny textures and fancy technology, but his good mood had slowly vanished after Heavy got the first few good hits in. He groaned as they faced each other once again.

"You know what? I`m done for today." He held out his arms. "C`mon. Finish it."

Giving him a doubtful look, Heavy shot a quick glance over Scouts shoulder. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Really sure?"

"Jeez, just get over with it, okay?"

The last thing he registered was the big guys smug grin before his fist connected with Scouts abdomen, sending him to the floor as a sputtering and cursing mess. Through the sounds of his own coughs, a chirping laughter made its way to his ear, and he looked up with teary eyes to see a cute, pale face and a spiky hairdo.

"Nice going, love." Tracer said mockingly.

Scouts eyes rolled back in their sockets. Of. Fucking. Course. Did she really have to enter the room right now?

He got back on his feet as fast as his aching body allowed, but spared the winning smile and the halfhearted explanation – it wouldn`t have helped anyways. Instead, he turned to his training partner.

"You knew she was standin` there, right?"

"Da."

"Asshole."

"Tried to warn you."

The young woman laughed again and stepped in the ring.

"Alright, my turn now, big man. Jeremy, you can stay if you want and watch a professional at work. Then you can see how it`s done."

Was there no aftermath for her this morning? She drank more than him!

"Nah, thanks." He growled, and let his gaze stray through the rest of the facility as he shuffled away. A little further on the left, Reinhardt was fighting against Demo who did surprisingly well against the german, while to his right, Sniper and Captain Amari were training together – or rather, were showing off. It took Scout a moment to spot the Medic, but he found him eventually a little farther away where he had Mercy pinned to a mattress.

"Geez, guys, get a room!"

The two doctors looked up at him, the blonde blushing a little at his statement while her counterpart just had an expression of plain annoyance. They got up, and the runner couldn`t help but smile a little when he took in the nice view of the swiss doctor only in sports bra and leggings. The Medic looked a little less sporty and a little more like he`d just been dragged out of bed, which probably was the case. On their own base, the doc usually hadn`t trained with them, and when he did it certainly hadn`t been in the black sweatpants and red class badge T-Shirt he was dressed in now. But Scout knew better than to mock him when he needed some medicine. He had learned his lesson.

"Yo, Doc, can I see you later about some painkillers? Heavy threw some good punches and I haven`t exactly been sleeping well…"

"Well, as your medical doctor, I should inform you that standing up in a locker is indeed a bad sleeping position."

If his training session with Heavy hadn`t woken him up fully, this sure as hell did the trick. His head shot up, eyes wide in horror.

"Wha- you know? How? … Oh god, Spy released that photo, didn`t he? I`m gonna strangle that backstabbing snake!"

"Scout…"

"I mean, I don`t even mind that much, but Lena is gonna fricking kill me!"

"Scout, relax. He only showed it to our teammates – and I might have shown it to Mercy, but apart from that you`re fine."

Mercy nodded reassuringly. "Don`t worry about it, I won`t tell a thing." Furrowing her brows, she turned to Medic.

"And you promised not to mock him!"

"Entschuldigung."

"I have the feeling you don`t mean it. Anyways, Jeremy, you can follow me to the infirmary, I meant to get to work straight away."

The runner nodded, and together the three of them were heading towards the exit and got onto the elevator.

"Hey, what were you guys doin` there by the way?" He asked.

"Oh, Joseph was just showing me some self-defense techniques; as a healer, you do get in trouble a lot. Although I´m sure the lecture on vivisection on the battlefield was unnecessary…"

Medic just shrugged. "What can I say, fighting is an art."

"Fighting is barbaric."

"Are you really going to start this again?"

Without answering, the blonde entered the elevator, followed by the two men, and Scout could have sworn that although she tried to maintain a serious expression, she shot a little smile at Medic. The runner frowned, but before he got the chance to ask questions he was mercilessly interrupted by a deafening alarm sound.

"Just what the hell is going on now?"

"Intruder alert", Mercy answered, a light shiver in her voice. "I just don`t know how-"

The ear-splitting sound of a detonating bomb and crashing walls rumbled through the building, with a force that sent the three of them crashing onto the floor. For a few seconds, all that Scout could hear and feel was his own heart beating rapidly in his chest before his senses returned. Around him, the elevator was creaking dangerously, and although the ground beneath his feet was swaying lightly, the construction appeared stable.

Then, the strings holding the lift snapped audibly and Scout exchanged one last shocked glance with the other two before they raced downwards in their metal cage.

…

Tracer watched after Jeremy as he left with the two doctors. Admittedly, she felt a little guilty for her mockery – he really hadn`t looked too good. But hey, was it her fault that he couldn`t hold his liquor?

"Ready?" The Heavy asked.

"Very ready. Do your worst, big guy!"

"Ha! Am going to finish you!"

"We`ll see about that."

But before the Russian could make his threat true, the alarm system of the facility went off, and the training rooms were bathed in blinking red light.

"What the-" was the last thing she managed to blurt out before the north wall of the training facility came crushing down on her.

She couldn`t say for how long she was knocked out, but it could only have been a matter of seconds. Coughing, she fought to get back on her knees – her chrono accelerator seemed to have lost power for the moment, so blinking anywhere was no option. She faintly noticed a pair of big hands yanking her to her feet.

"Is little girl hurt?"

She shook her head, still quite stunned, as the Heavy held her up right. From the corner of her eye, she took notice of some other figures hurrying towards them – the rest of the team.

"Y`all got any weapons around here?" The Engineer asked once they arrived by their side.

"Only the training weapons, but those aren`t any good, really. We`d be kicking each others heads in if they were."

While he cursed, Sniper spoke up. "Don`t think it`s necessary now. Look, they`re leaving."

Tracers vision still hadn`t cleared fully, but it was enough to see the black-dressed silhouettes of approximately 30 soldiers leaving the building systematically and without any hurry whatsoever.

"Doesn`t seem like they were scared off by anything." The Spy concluded.

"But then what did they want?"

Her eyes fell upon Engineer again, who was chewing fingernails rather nervously – very unlike his usual relaxed self. "Might have an idea" He murmured.

…

 _Scout… Scout…_

 _Slap._

"Scout!"

Groaning, Jeremy regained consciousness. Above him kneeled the Medic, shaking him awake with a worried expression.

"Uh… god, my head… Doc, you okay?"

"Ja, i`m fine. Come on, get up."

Miraculously, none of them seemed to have been injured by the fall – Mercy was quite pale and shuddered slightly because of the shock, but seemed okay otherwise.

"The training facility is almost the deepest level of the building. We didn`t fall more than a few feet." She answered his unspoken question.

"How long have I been knocked out?"

"Not for long, a minute or two." Medic said. "Which has me wondering why I`m not hearing any noises from above; after a detonation like that, the situation must be chaotic."

The blonde beside him nodded. "Especially since we heard an intruder alert before the bomb went off. There should be audible fighting, or gunshots or- hey, do you hear that?"

What she meant were the faint rumbling sounds coming from above their heads, which hopefully meant they were going to get rescued pretty soon. Scout felt he couldn`t hold out any longer in the remains of the elevator. Then finally, finally there was a familiar voice shouting down at them.

"You okay down there? Anybody hurt?"

"We are alright, Dell!" Medic answered, visibly relieved as well.

"Good, cause I`ve got something y`all need to have a look at…"

...

 **Author`s note**

THIS STORY WILL BE CONTINUED! I know I haven`t been uploading in fucking forever, and the next chapter might take just as long, but I will continue this story. I hope you`re still with me. (I also wrote the last few parts in about 15 minutes, which is why in the end everything goes kinda rapid, but heeey...)


	11. Chapter 11

A few days later

The members of Team Fortress and some of the Overwatch agents were gathered in the conference room, after most of the mess that the explosion had caused was cleared away. Tired but concentrated, everyone was fixed on the little holo-vid, which showed a short typed message.

"I don`t get this", Scout said for the 100th time. "I mean, does this make sense to anyone in here?"

He was referring to both the attack and the message.

`Still not going to take the offer?`

That`s what it said. At first, it had caused some tantrum amongst the Overwatch members, who thought, Fortress had let out some pretty dangerous details concerning their previous jobs, but frankly, the mercs were completely clueless as well, affirming solemnly they hadn`t received any offer besides that from Overwatch. Or so it seemed, because now, in this little, modest room, the Engineer was shifting uncomfortably, his gaze a nervous one.

"Mister Conagher?" Spy`s voice was soft, but those who knew him well noticed the sharp undertone. "It seems, you may have an idea about the meaning of this little… incident?"

Medic raised an eyebrow. Ever since the Administrator had died, he, Spy and Engineer had taken the part of leading and organizing the Team; every decision or information was shared between these three immediately. If Engineer had received a work offer by someone and hadn`t told them, this would be a great break of their trust. Dell apparently noticed his disapproving gaze started to explain himself.

"Only a few weeks before we joined Overwatch", he began. "I got a call by an anonymous number. It was a man with a deep voice and some kinda accent, but that`s all I can say. He didn`t introduce himself, he simply said he had a job for us, and named the price he was willing to pay. At that point I was pretty much about to agree, that`s how much he offered; but when I asked about details – you know, what specifically we would have to do – he just said it was none of my business. That was when I told him we didn`t need his money as long as he was that shallow, and hung up. I didn`t deem that important enough to tell y`all."

"Did he contact you again?", Spy asked.

"Well… yeah. But it was the exact day Overwatch hired us. So I told him straight away we had taken on another job-"

"You told him you work for us?", Morrison interrupted him sharply.

"No, no, nothing like that! Didn`t mention Overwatch in any way, I have no idea how that guy could have found out. "

Engi didn`t seem to continue on his own, so Medic urged him forward. "So? What else did he say?"

"Nothing really, I mean… except…"

"Except what?"

"Except… he did say, in the end, what we should do for him."

"And what was it?" This time it was Scout asking. "C`mon, hardhat, don´t leave us hangin`!"

A sigh. "He said we should help him get rid of Overwatch."

…

Scout was awfully quiet while he walked Tracer back to her room.

"Cheer up, Jem, we´re not dead yet."

Jem was Tracer`s brand new nickname for him, ever since she had found out that he had the same name as both Scout and Jeremy "Jem" Finch from "To Kill A Mockingbird", Lena`s favourite book from schooltime.

"I know Lena, it´s just…" He sighed. "It´s just the thought that, if Engineer hadn`t hesitated, I might be tryin` to kill you right now."

"But you`re not. We`re on the same side, and it`ll stay that way. I mean, you`re not going to take up the offer now, are you?"

He jumped a little. "Hell no! Well, technically, I`m not the one to decide that, but I promise, I`ll stay with ya, no matter what the others do."

She blushed at that. The Scout might be annoying at times, but in his heart, he was as good as every hero in at Overwatch. Apparently noticing her gaze, he quickly changed the topic.

"Hey, ah, heard anything from Reyes by now?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Commander Morrison says he had the whole base searched, but still no sign of him… I didn`t have much to do with him, and in all honesty, he was kind of an ass to me, but – I hope he`s still alive."

"You know what? Me too, toots."

…

A few hallways away, Mercy was just typing in the code to her dorm, when she was interrupted by Medic tapping her shoulder.

"Angela?"

She turned around, rubbing her tired eyes. "What is it now?"

He handed her a slip of paper. "Because of the number of injured the explosion has caused I was granted permission for direct interaction and care for patients, and I`d like you to prolong it – I`m certain I can treat a great number of those wounds without unnecessary cyber implants."

Mercy furrowed her brows. "Who gave you this?"

"Some other doctor in the infirmary. I wanted to ask you, but you were barely around." She noticed the suspicion in his voice and quickly looked away, embarrassed.

"Where have you been?"

I had things to do."

"What things?"

"Things that don`t concern you!", she snapped. Her hand flew to her mouth. "I`m sorry, Joseph, I didn`t mean to be so harsh. But I really can`t tell you what I`ve been doing."

He smiled at her. "That`s fine, I appreciate someone surrounded by a little bit of mystery." His grin grew wider and he winked at her while walking away.

"Sleep well, Frau Doktor – and I sincerely hope you do, because those eye bags don`t suit you."

"Thanks", she murmured and went to retreat to her room. Before she did though, she looked back over her shoulder, glaring at the merc`s broad back while he slowly disappeared.

`Should I tell him…? No! No, he must never know!`

…

She wouldn`t keep that promise for long. In fact, it was exactly 26 hours and 14 minutes after the little encounter at her door, when she grabbed Medic`s arm and dragged him out of the medical wing, away from people who might listen.

"I need to show you something", she whispered hastily.

Her approach had taken him completely by surprise. "W-What is it?"

"I just have to show you. But, please… promise you won`t judge or even hate me."

"Angela, I would never!"

With that, the blonde took hold of his hand and led him to the newly repaired elevator. Inside, she pressed some buttons and typed something in a keypad, until a small `ping` could be heard and the elevator rushed downwards. Medic`s heart began beating rapidly as he was unpleasantly reminded of their crash just days ago. This time, they came to a soft halt, at, if the number on the screen was correct two levels deeper than the facility was supposed to be.

"Those levels have long been abandoned, that`s why they aren`t on any plans", she answered his unspoken question. He opened his mouth to further voice his confusion, but already she was yanking his arm, urging him along a dark hallway. It was cold down here, and Medic began to shiver a bit; his colleague beside him, however, didn`t seem to be bothered by the temperature, her eyebrows were knit and cold sweat glistened on her forehead.

`She`s genuinely scared`, Medic noticed in surprise.

After what felt like hours, they reached an old metal door that screeched when Mercy opened it forcefully. The room behind it seemed like it had been tidied up in a hurry: boxes and old countertops had been shoved out of the way to make room for a steel surgery table, on it a weirdly bulging blanket with several tubes reaching under it. The sight was all too familiar to the mercenary: the hippocratic pacifist at his side was doing experiments on one of her patients. A grin spread across his face.

"Ts, ts, ts, Frau Doktor… you have a very own lab in an abandoned bunker and don`t tell me? I`d be disappointed if I weren`t so curious. What are you working on? The influence of flesh eating bacteria on a living humanoid form? How to extract all the blood while keeping the heart beating? Ooh, or is it the infamous Dr. Ludwig-soul-extraction? I`d be so proud!"

She shook her head, not even cracking a smile. "No, it`s not an experiment… at least, not of the sort you do them. I was just trying to – you know what? Just take a look."

With a few steps she was at the table, but then hesitated again, so Medic took it in his own hands to remove the blanket. When he saw what was hiding underneath, his eyes widened in shock.

…

He didn`t flinch, as Mercy had expected, but she saw his body stiffen visibly at the discovery. His brilliant blue eyes wide in horror, he looked at her.

"Is that…?"

"Reyes. What`s left of him, I mean."

The merc let out a shuddery breath. "Well, th-that`s something I´ve never seen before, hehe." His failed attempt at laughing did nothing to hide his feelings as he looked back to the table and the mess lying on it. Unwillingly, she followed his gaze.

The form was remotely still human, but that was about it. Reyes` skin, organs and bones were decaying, turning to dust and then regenerating at an alarmingly fast pace, too fast to reform any facial features or such. If Angela were in mood to joke, she`d say he was quite literally a shadow of himself, but as it stood, she could only stare at Medic with tear-filled eyes.

"I didn`t want this, believe me. I found him only hours after the attack, crushed under a pile of stones and shattered glass, badly wounded. I knew that, if I had brought him to the medical wing, he would have been declared dead, so I decided to treat him by myself, down here. I was trying to get his body to regenerate, but instead…"

Her voice trailed off, and he could see a single tear escaping her eyes. It took her a few moments to collect herself.

"Joseph, can you help me? I know this might be too much to ask, you don`t owe me anything, and assisting me in this matter could be laid out to you as a crime, but you`re the only one I know who could fix this… and the only one who won`t hate me for life for this."

He sighed. Damn, those big, teary eyes of her could even melt his heart; he couldn`t say no, even if he wanted to.

"Do you have any records of the procedure?"

"Of course!" She rummaged through some counters. "They are very brief though."

She handed him a handwritten piece of paper. "I couldn`t take one of the tablets, they`re all connected to each other."

"Understandable, but I have to say, your handwriting is even worse than mine, and that says something! Now, let me see… hm, this is indeed _very_ brief."

"I didn`t have much time for formalities."

…

Commander Morrison rushed through the wide, clean rooms of the infirmary, Captain Amari and some guards right behind him.

"Where the hell are they?"

"Calm down, Jack", Amari told him. "Angela probably just takes a break, and who knows where that mercenary is."

"I don`t care! The omnics are attacking again, we need both of them on the next mission!" He made a sharp turn and entered another lab.

"Winston!" The gorilla flinched at the mention of his name, and shyly turned his head towards the Commander.

"Um… yes?"

"Do you know where Dr. Ziegler is at the moment?"

"No, b-but I could check if she`s used her keycard recently." Morrison gave a nod, and Winston immediately went to typing something on his computer, his big hands apparently not a problem despite the small keyboard.

"This won`t take long… ah, here we go. It looks like she has just logged into the system with her highest security level password. The signal came form the elevator, and shows that she has descended to the lowest floor."

"To the old air-raid shelter?"

"Yes, sir."

Morrison and Amari shared a confused look. What in the world could the doctor be doing down there?

…

Nervous, Mercy stood next to Medic, impatiently awaiting his expertise.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Do you know how to help him? Do you at least have an idea?"

Sighing, he closed the report and turned to face her. "Tell me, Angela, how long did it take you to turn him into… this?"

"I don`t know, about two days."

"So then give me more than five minutes to fix it!"

She buried her head in her hands. "Tut mir leid, but I`m just – what if it`s irreversible? What if I`ve turned him into a monster? What if-"

Her voice trailed off at that point, and she began sobbing as all the fear and anxiety from the past days washed over her. She leaned forward against Medic`s shoulder, who, seemingly unsure about how to comfort a crying woman, slowly raised his arm to put it around her waist.

"Don`t you worry, I`m sure the two of us can come up with something. Just, bitte, stop crying."

The blonde lifted her head a little and saw him smile down at her reassuringly. Though with a hint of evilness, his smile was one of the most carefree and honest ones she knew, and it didn`t fail to take her worries away momentarily. But it all lasted way too short, as suddenly his cheerful expression dropped and he stiffened.

"Angela? Didn`t you say no one ever comes down here?"

"Well, yes I did, why are you-?"

That was when she heard it too, and her eyes widened in complete horror at the sound: footsteps. Coming their direction.


	12. Chapter 12

Mercy's heart was beating unbearably loud in her ears, pumping hot adrenaline through every vein. Everything that happened next seemed blurred and slowed down to her. The handle of the door moving, the door opening, Ana's slightly annoyed expression changing into absolute horror at the sight of her friend's remains. Her widened eyes darted back and forth between the two doctors, not quite fully understanding.

"What – what is…" She seemed to find no words. Angela wanted to explain and excuse herself, but found her body rendered immobile by shock. Her dry throat would not allow her to make any sound.

'All of my achievements… my friends… I will lose everything!'

She felt Medic shift slightly beside her and finally she gathered enough strength to lift her head to look at him. He was eyeing her with a weird expression on his features, something like… excuse? Before she could find out however, he lightened up, a wide grin spreading across his face as he turned to Ana.

"How do you like my latest creation?"

The woman's face could not have looked any more disgusted.

" _Your creation?_ "

"Ja. It took me a few days, but here it is. Isn't it marvelous?"

Angela's brain wasn't really processing the overheard conversation. The mercenary certainly wouldn't take the blame for her mistake, would he?

"Angela?" In slow motion, she turned to face Amari.

"Did you know about this?" Once again, Medic spoke for her.

"Unfortunately, she didn't. I would have showed it to her sooner but little Miss Do-no-harm here would probably have ruined all the fun."

It took Amari a few more good seconds before she managed to regain her composure, straighten up and gesture the two guards behind her to arrest and handcuff the merc. Before they led him out the door, however, she stood in front of him, her expression hard but her voice shivering.

"You… you are going to jail for this until. You. Rot, as god is my witness."

It was only then when finally, just soon enough but still far too late, Mercy rose from her stupor, screaming "Wait!", thus causing a very surprised look on both Medic's and Ana's faces.

"W-Wait…please, I-" She swallowed hard and closed her eyes for a second. What could she possibly say now that would keep the doctor from being imprisoned for life? And it would be a long life, that much she knew now. Her gaze fell upon her handwritten notes on the table that Medic had dropped in a hurry during Ana's entrance.

"If I- if _we_ want to help Gabriel, I will need his help. I don't know exactly what he did to him, and his protocol is short and mostly unfinished. I-If he goes to prison now, Reyes will be lost forever."

Pleadingly, her eyes met Ana's sharp stare, and lingered until Amari gave in and nodded shortly.

"If you say so, Angela." She sighed, then turned back o Medic. "You heard her. You will fix my fr- you will fix Reyes."

"Will that mean I won't get a prison sentence?"

"Oooh, that's definitely not what it means!"

Showing a little smile, Medic raised his chin. "Then I don't see the appeal. Why should I destroy my beautiful creation if I don't get anything in return – just for Dr. Ziegler's ego trip?"

Mercy was trying her very best to remain collected while inwardly she was about ready to have a panic attack. Confused, she set her eyes on him. What was he trying to achieve with this little game? An Oscar?

"Ana, please", she tried again. "At least think about it. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't possibly help Reyes without Medic's help."

A torturously long pause followed, before the Captain finally gave a resigned sigh. "Fine. Last offer. You, Medic, help Angela cure Gabriel, and if you are successful, you'll be a free man. But if not" She was fixating him almost predator-like at this point. "I will make sure you'll never see a glimpse of daylight again."

This time, the doctor agreed, and a tiny piece of the big weight on Mercy's chest was lifted. Before the guards led him out the door, their eyes met one last time. _Why?_ Was the question hers asked. He simply shrugged.

…

"Your turn, Spook."

It was a weird sight, what was happening in Sniper's quarters, at least for everyone who knew him and Spy. The two assassins were sitting together at the small but elegant table that was placed in every room in headquarters, and were playing a card game none of them really knew the rules of. Although the rivalry that had once existed between them was long gone, they weren't exactly to be considered friends, and any communal activity apart from killing people was rare to non-existent. This time, however, they were happy to not have to talk about the recent events on the base. Or, well, until Sniper decided to open his mouth again.

"He messed up real good this time, didn't he?"

Spy sighed. "Yes, the docteur is in great trouble. But are you really surprised?"

"Nah, not since the Los Angeles-incident. Just thought it'd take him more than like – what was it? Two weeks? I'm tellin ye, we should have taken him to that psychologist in New York when we had the chance."

They both chuckled. None of them were seriously worried, to be honest; each and every one of them had gotten out of bigger trouble before.

"Hey, Spook?"

"Feeling a bit talkative today, Bushman, huh?"

"Who were you meetin'? You know, a few days ago, when you had me drive you there."

The Spy visibly stiffened. "That is none of your business, Mundy." Not interested in the game anymore, Sniper leaned back in his chair, eyeing Spy over the brim of his sunglasses.

"You might be all fancy and mysterious with those gadgets and shady friends of yours, but I'm at least as good of an investigator as you. You don't think I got my theories?"

The man was visibly tensing up now, straightening his back. "I have no idea, what you are talking about, Bushman. But I am not willing to listen to this nonsense any longer. Au revoir, Monsieur."

He got up and Sniper knew, he'd hit a sensitive spot now. Spy hated it when anyone found out something about him, even if it was just a minor thing like favourite sort of bubblegum. For the sake of their still fragile companionship, he should shut up now, apologize and tell Spy to sit down again. But he just couldn't bring himself to do that.

"Does Jeremy know he has a sister?" Without a word, the Frenchman stormed out, leaving Mundy sitting at the small table with a knowing smile on his face.

...

Author's note

I'm sorry for the long wait and the short chapter, but I'm pretty stressed right now because of school and can't write that much at the moment. But I think this was enough plot twist for one chapter anyways, sooo...

Some of you have been asking for more interactions between the other characters, and I gotta say - I have no idea what to write there. You see, when I ship a couple, then everything in my imagination revolves around them, the other are just none-existent or only there to create some plot for said ship. What I could do, however, is to bring in one of the Blackwatch guys. The problem there would just be that, two of those are somehow linked to Mercy, either by rivalry (Moira) or implied romance (Genji), which would create a lot more plot for Medic x Mercy - certainly interesting to explore, but maybe not so pleasant for the ones who are here for Tracer x Scout. The thing is, even without me adding characters, the doctors' relationship would need more writing than the runners, because their romance has to seem somehow realistic, while Tracer and Scout would just get along right away. So, question is: would it be okay if I favored one ship? Or should I write an equal amount for both? Please show your opinion in the comments:)


	13. Chapter 13

In a time like this, reading a book made out of paper and ink was in most parts considered old-fashioned or even antiquated, but Lena Oxton did not care about such things. She loved reading it in the evening, feeling the pages under her fingers and smelling its scent; it never failed to calm her down after long, stressful days at Overwatch. So it annoyed her even more, when she was interrupted by loud banging on her dorm door. Sighing, she got up and opened it for the late night intruder, and immediately regretted it.

"Hey toots", Jeremy greeted her with a cheerful smile.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?" Was her only reply.

"Yeah, but as expected, we nailed it. Can I come in?"

He didn't even wait for an answer but instead just invited himself in. "Nice room ya got here. Is that a Billy Talent poster I see? I love it!"

"Jem, I don't want to sound rude, but I've had a rough day, so could you please get straight to the point?"

She saw his self-confidence fade for a second. "Umm, yeah, sure. Sooo, I kinda wanted to ask ya… I mean, it's okay if you say no, but… " He inhaled deeply. "Wouldyouliketogoonadatesometime?"

"Uh…excuse me?"

"Date? With me? Please?"

Okay she'd gotten it this time. She had hoped he wouldn't ask. "Hey, you see, you're a really nice boy, and-"

His smile dropped quickly, and his expression hardened. "Oh. I get it. It's not my fault, you'll say, but we both know I fucked up again somehow, right?"

"NO!" She cursed herself inwardly for her poor choice of words. "No, that's not it at all. Technically, I'd love to go on a date with you. But haven't you noticed what's been happening the past few days? I can't be seen with anyone from Team Fortress, not after what your doctor did."

"Really? That's the problem? Hey, if you knew all the things Doc has done so far, you'd not even be talkin to me right now!" He chuckled lightly. "But I get ya. The situation's been tense, especially Morrison and Amari are throwing a tantrum. Still not a valid reason for a rejection, if ya ask me."

"The situation isn't 'tense', it's close to escalating! And not just in headquarters, you know. The public is losing trust in us. Fine, thanks to you we have been able to claim a few victories, but if anyone finds out that a mercenary _we_ hired practically killed one of our best soldiers and we let him continue working… we'd be done for, Jem. They'd hate us, if not imprison us. Don't you understand that?"

"Of course I do, I'm not dumb, okay? I-" He opened his mouth as if he wanted to add something, but didn't seem to be finding the right words. "I guess I'd just hoped you'd like me enough to at least give it a try. Looks like I was wrong." With that, he turned around.

"Wait!" Tracer shouted. "Look, I'm sorry. For everything. And I do like you, Jeremy, there's no doubt about that. But working for Overwatch is more than our personal sitcom with a few action scenes, it's the responsibility for thousands of people, for their safety and their well-being. As much as I want to, I can't let some love interest get in the way of something that big."

An ever so slight smile cracked on the young man's face. "Did ya just call me a love interest?"

Lena rolled her eyes. "Figured you'd only hear that." She paused for a second. "In another time, I might just call you that, but as it stands now, we should only stay colleagues."

"Really? Hmmm." In the boy's eyes glistened a hint of mischief. "You do seem pretty serious about your whole hero-thing, toots. It's just too bad that didn't reach Morrison and Amari…"

Had Tracer been drinking anything at the moment, she'd spit it out in surprise and shock. "What?! Are you serious?"

"To see whether it was a joke or a fact, please choose the 'go on a date' option."

"You idiot!" She laughed. "Oh bugger, I can't believe I let you guilt-trip me into this." A short pause again. "Fine, okay. I'll go out with you."

"Yaaay!"

…

"Hey, Doc, you even listening?"

"Huh?" Startled, the Medic looked up into the Engineer's goggle-covered eyes. "Ja, natürlich. Why do you ask?"

"You've been awfully quiet ever since you came into my work-shop. Usually nothing can keep you from chattering or cracking jokes." With a groan, Dell sat down in the chair next to the doctor, wiping a few blueprints from the table to make room for two cups of coffee. It had only been weeks since he had inhabited his new work-shop in Overwatch headquarters, but it already looked as chaotic as the one back at their own base. "C'mon, tell your old friend about it."

The merc sighed. "It's about Doctor Ziegler."

"What about her?"

"She's been avoiding me since the… incident. She won't talk to me any more than necessary."

A small laugh from the Texan. "Did you expect anything else after experimenting on her friend?"

He hadn't told his team about who was really responsible for Reyes' current condition. He had sworn to keep his colleague's secret, and he wasn't going to break that promise. Therefore, he had to answer carefully now. "It's just… I had expected her to… I don't know, to be angry, furious even, to scream at me and…" He sighed deeply. "I simply miss her company, as, excuse my choice of words, _bitchy_ she could be towards me."

It wasn't necessarily a lie, though he really wasn't sure what reaction exactly he had expected from Angela. A 'thank you'? A hug or kiss even? Or maybe simply appreciation?

The doctor stayed with Engineer for one more hour before going back to his room and slumping down on his bed. He just lay there, staring at the clean white ceiling, his thoughts once more with the blonde woman. He hadn't worried that much about a social relationship since his childhood, it mostly wasn't worth the trouble. This time, however, he couldn't stop his thoughts from circling. Had he done something wrong? Said anything that offended her? Not that he'd notice, of course, he never noticed such things. He's had this problem in youth, when he'd come home beaten up and bruised because he hadn't been able to keep his mouth shut around the neighbor kids. Back then, there had at least been his mother waiting for him at home, tending to his injuries, both the physical and the emotional ones. Even over a hundred years after her death, he still missed her dearly, and the memories of her never faded, waiting to be remembered on alone evenings like this.

" _Oh, my poor boy. They hurt you so badly."_

 _They were in the kitchen, a first-aid kit on the small table. Even at his young age, Joseph was probably better at treating wounds than his mother, but it just felt so nice to be comforted. With eyes teary from the sharp sting of the disinfectant, he looked up at her._

" _Mama? Why are the other boys like that?"_

" _Like what, Liebling?"_

" _You know. Why do they always hit me?"_

 _Her kind brown eyes locked gaze with his icy blue ones, and one of her thin hands caressed his cheek. "They… they just don't understand you."_

" _Why?"_

" _Oh honey…" She paused for a second. "You see, your thoughts sometimes don't work like other people's thoughts. You-"_

" _Is there something wrong with me?" His vision started blurring with tears again, but this time it wasn't the medicine causing it. "That's what they always say. They are calling me a freak, Mama!"_

 _The poverty and work had already left permanent marks on his mother's face, but at moments like this she looked more tired and exhausted than ever. With shaking hands and voice, she cupped his narrow, pale face. "Listen to me very carefully now. You are the sweetest and smartest boy in the world, and although I wish everyone would see that right away, that will never be the case. So, please Joseph, you will have to adjust to their… manners."_

" _You say that every time! That I have to try to understand them! But why do they never have to make an effort to understand_ me _?"_

 _The only answer he ever received to that question had been a loving hug, but at that time it had been enough._

A loud knock on the door mercilessly interrupted his day-dreaming. A quick glance to the digital clock told him it was time it was time for work – in the medical wing, trying to undo Doctor Ziegler's mistakes. He didn't necessarily feel angry at her, but in his opinion, at least a kind smile would not be too much to ask for what he did for her.

"Are you coming or not?" The soldier who was to escort him to the infirmary – he wasn't allowed to go anywhere near the medical facilities unsupervised – was getting impatient. 'Imbecile', he thought to himself, but nonetheless opened the door, greeting the other man with his best super-villain grin.

"Ah, it's good that you are here. I can't wait to get back to work, I've been missing the smell of blood!"

The doctor's new, or rather, reinforced reputation paired with his smile and remark caused the soldier to shy away hastily, and Medic's smile grew a little wider. It was the little things in life that brought him joy.

…

A disco was _not_ a good place to spend a date at. This evening, Scout had had to learn that the hard way when him and Lena had snuck out of the base. As many new things the future has brought, the disco had changed the least – just as always it was a loud, dirty place containing loud, dirty people, sweaty and drunk bodies mingling together to horrible music. The two had only gone there because a popular DJ was supposed to have a gig, but the guy didn't even show up. Nevertheless they had stayed and tried to enjoy their evening together, with not so much success. At the end of the night, Scout had been vomited on, he himself had vomited on the expensive looking dress of a young and considerably pissed off woman, and Tracer had broken an older man's nose because he had grabbed her backside.

"All in all not such a bad date", Jeremy joked when they were out of the disco and walking back to headquarters, to loosen up the mood.

"Still the worst I've ever had", the Brit answered. She wasn't mad at him however, it hadn't been his fault after all. And admittedly, it had been quite entertaining to see the pretty redhead beat the poor boy with her puke-stained stilettos, making him hide in the bathroom for over an hour. She chuckled at the memory.

"Glad to see ya laugh, toots. Hey, you feel like goin' anywhere else?"

"Is it going to be as _fun_ as your last idea?"

"Ha ha, very funny. I just wanna end this date on a good note, ya know?"

If there was one thing true about the young merc it was that he was persistent; not even a puke-stained T-Shirt could stop him from trying to score, and if she had to be honest, that was actually why Lena liked him as much as she did. So naturally, she didn't object when Scout proposed sitting down a bench together in a park. The woman shivered a bit as they did so. Only weeks before, when the mercs were being hired by Overwatch, summer had still been around; now, the cold air and fog announced autumn.

"Sooo… where did ya grow up?" It was clear from the uncertainty in his voice that Scout had not so much experience with dates – at least concerning the talking aspect, she didn't know about the other, ahem, aspects, and she wasn't planning on finding out too soon.

"In London. I lived with my mother and sister in a small flat, but it was enough for the three of us; my father had died shortly before my birth, I never knew him. There's not much else to say though, I had a boringly satisfying childhood. What about you? I heard you grew up with seven brothers, that must have been challenging!"

"Betcha it was. We were basically fightin all the time, at least when Ma wasn't looking. Since I was the youngest they'd often pick on me, but you what they say: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, which is probably why I'm such a bad-ass mercenary now!" He winked at her and grinned.

"And what about your dad?" His cocky smile froze in an instant upon the mention of his father, and he turned away from her, gesturing her to leave the topic be.

"My dad is dead to me." The answer came with a coldness Tracer had never before heard in his voice. Although impolite, he'd never sounded this _harsh_.

"Jem, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Just leave it, ok?" She decided to do as he said – partly because of the embarrassment she'd certainly feel if she were to ruin the date when the other party was _Scout_. They sat together in silence, with Lena cursing herself inwardly. Just as she'd asked the question, she'd remembered what she'd read in his file, in the jet on their way to the merc's base: apparently, the American had grown up without a father and without knowing why; he was believed to have left the family shortly after his son's birth. But there must have happened more, something that would explain Scout's outburst.

"Hey, toots?" She turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"The question is probably pretty dumb, but… you think I got a real chance with you?"

Lena laughed softly. "Hey, would I have gone out with you if it were otherwise?"

"I dunno. You could have just felt pity for me or something." There was a short pause in conversation when she took a long look at him, smiling tenderly. She remembered how she didn't really like him at first, he'd struck her as annoying and bratty; now she hadn't only gotten to know the self-assured, confident young man he wanted to be seen as, but also the insecure and hurt side of him that people usually didn't acknowledge. A warm feeling washed over her, and before she could stop herself, she leaned forward and placed her soft lips on his.

No, she didn't pity him; she admired him.


End file.
